Mayhew, who was traveling back to his home in North Texas last week, was eventually allowed to board with cane intact, but not until he’d posted about the kerfuffle to his more than 27,000 twitter followers from his account, @thewookieroars. (Tagline: “The OFFICIAL twitter of Actor, Author & the man behind the mask of CHEWBACCA! This is where The Wookiee Roars… and Tweets!”)

TSA later emailed CNN.com a statement explaining its version of events: “Because of the unusual weight of the passenger’s cane, a security officer alerted a supervisor. Less than five minutes later, the passenger and cane were cleared to travel.”